Note, please, that I said "....some of the best....." Operative word is "some."

Fact is, though, even if we confine the discussion to Canada, if I had to choose, I'd take the Maritime provinces over Ontario. Even putting aside the salmon and salter fisheries (and thank all the red Gods we don't have to!), for instance, New Brunswick offers some of the finest smallmouth fishing in the world.

Of course, you do have some special fisheries. Anyone who calls themself a catfisherman, for instance, is fooling themself if they haven't fished the Red River of the North.

But we're getting pretty far from oxtails, I reckon, and probably don't want to hijack this thread.

It is Tas & his Mrs. & the Boys, I would enjoy meeting, and the Oxtail is non essential; as I can eat oxtail in Madrid, or Andalusia.

As a matter of fact, I would prefer Ron´s BBQ Ribs or a Montana Steak Rare ... and spending some time discussing gastronomy and seeing a bit of Montana in the process ...

I have not been to Yellowstone since I was a little tot ... however, I would prefer to focus the trip on socialising, exploring the world of epicurism and relaxing; it is a very long trip from the east coast of the USA ...

Note, please, that I said "....some of the best....." Operative word is "some."

Fact is, though, even if we confine the discussion to Canada, if I had to choose, I'd take the Maritime provinces over Ontario. Even putting aside the salmon and salter fisheries (and thank all the red Gods we don't have to!), for instance, New Brunswick offers some of the finest smallmouth fishing in the world.

Of course, you do have some special fisheries. Anyone who calls themself a catfisherman, for instance, is fooling themself if they haven't fished the Red River of the North.

But we're getting pretty far from oxtails, I reckon, and probably don't want to hijack this thread.

Agreed Brook.

Re, oxtails, I was at the store today, and they are $4.99 per pound around here.

Here, when even available, they're pushing the six dollar mark. That's per pound, not per tail. I mean, really. Six bucks for bones!

I remember when they were a cheap cut. Like so many of the tough cuts, they're been discovered by celebrity chefs and foodies. So now they're "gourmet," with a pricetag to match.

Before ox tails became all the rage it was short ribs. I grew up on short ribs, because we couldn't afford anything better. Now you need a second mortgage to put them on the table.

All of the bottom cuts now carry ridiculous prices. Have y'all bought (or, rather, priced) flank steak lately? We won't even bring up brisket.

Try as they might, the whole offal thing hasn't taken off, except among some high-end chefs. The typical American just isn't going to eat those parts---unless, as has happened with seafood, they make a concerted effort to change the names.

It's a round robin with offal. Because it isn't very popular, it's generally unavailable. Which makes liver, and hearts, and tongues, and brains, and tripe, etc. "specialty" cuts. Which makes them expensive, so people don't buy them, and they never become popular, so remain unavailable.

And if you think changing names, alone, doesn't make a big difference you haven't bought any fresh bacon lately.

Seems that this year the honor will go to beef cheeks, which all the chefs and foodies are talking about.

For a lot of these cuts, availability seems to be a localized thing. Beef short ribs, for instance, a staple of the barbecue world in Texas and California, are virtually unknown in the South. Here the ribs are stripped and the meat ground into hamburger. Which is kind of amusing, because certain high-end restaurants---ya know, the kind that charge $25 and up for hamburgers---due the same thing with short ribs, and justify the prices that way.

In Spain, oxtail is seasonal and collaborates with the Bull Fighting Corridas ( the Bull Fighting Rinks ) excluding the 4 Catalá provinces where it is outlawed; Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona and Lérida.

These seasons take place: March / April / May and July.

I paid, 8 Euros for the kilo ... For San Fermín the 6th July. I too, have friends in the right places !

Dave - I think that kalimotxo and oxtails would make a perfectly wonderful combination; the flavours would go beautifully hand-in-hand with the long, slow technique.

If all else fails, I can package some carefully in dry ice and ship them during the winter, where I am guessing they should arrive still-frozen or, at worse, thawed and ready to be used - or perhaps your Portuguese neighbours might have some resources for acquiring them?

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